Does anybody remember this strange story?

I've often thought of this story that I saw years ago, and I have had no luck searching Youtube or Google.

Here's what I remember:

It was on a tv show, probably A Current Affair or something similar.

It was around the time of Phoenix Lights.

It was about people who went outside to tape UFO activity. As they set up their camera, it unintentionally caught something through an upstairs window, probably a bedroom, in their own house. No one was supposed to be inside.

It looked like some kind of bipedal creature — not human looking but not a typical gray. It was kind of apelike in my memory. It was very fleeting and blurred.

When the family (I think it was a husband and wife) went inside later to view their tape, they noticed this creature and freaked out, wondering if it was still in the house. They never saw or heard anything unusual. Somehow they got the courage to look around upstairs and found nothing.

I've often wondered whether more modern technology would offer a better analysis. This was, after all, the age of VHS.

At the time, they showed the clip a lot, but it fell off the radar quickly and I've never seen it in the many shows about UFOs and aliens. Perhaps it was debunked as a hoax?

I'd appreciate hearing if anyone recalls this story and knows more about it or has a link to the original, which may have named the people involved.

a reply to: lindalinda

Nice I flagged would like to see this. News to me on this subject is eye candy.

That's a great premise to a creepy pasta, but ends on a cliff hanger?

Can't say as I have ever heard of this. I don't remember any such story, but would love to know more. Hope you get more replies in here.

You don't mean this do you?

In 1998, Dick Clark Productions approached Alioto to remake the film, this time as a TV movie for the fledgling United Paramount Network (later folded into the CW network) with a bigger budget and the title Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County. However, the network edited the film from two hours to one and removed the commercial bumpers that identified the film as a work of fiction, creating even more confusion.

rationalwiki.org...

No, no, I know what that is, and strangely enough I was just watching the beginning earlier today. It must be what made me think of the story.

a reply to: lindalinda

I remember it.

It was one of the clips that aired on an HBO UFO special in the 80's/90's.

a reply to: lindalinda

HBO ufo doc Whats Going On ? 1985 (ATS thread)

Maybe this one, but looking at it Im not sure.

Sounds like Robert the Doll.

I do remember 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures' TV series when they tried to become Pips as in Gladys knight and the pips, but the manager tells them that they can't be pips, but they were able to become Temptations if they got down their parts and were trained by the Temptations choreographer to perform the moves and vocals.
They worked hard and joined the Temptations on stage at the end of a show at, of all places, The APOLLO!

They introduced them as the newest members of the group while strutting and snapping fingers during the intro of "Just my imagination" as part of an encore medley and suddenly, the boys come out from stage left in matching suits as the real group and right in step and snap with the Temptations, including the staggered chord build ups.

A pan shot of the crowd was epic, as the pretty much all black crowds faces looked confused, shocked and surprised, almost like you could here a pin drop over the band. Then, after the crowd saw the two white boys up there in perfect sync with the Temptations, they turned to amazement and were blown away THEN the horror of it all surpassed by their top notch performance.

It was one of the funniest shows I have ever seen, because it was so well performed, but I cannot find the episode anywhere.
I assumed the Temptations shelved the episode, possibly to avoid any backlash, but if that is why it is not out there anywhere, I say to The Temptations, release the episode. It is awesome and you should enjoy it.

But no,
I don't recall the UFO/Alien show you seek.

a reply to: abe froman

I haven't watched through, but they don't look familiar. These are related to the Phoenix Lights, that time period and that geographical area.

To anyone who posts a video longer than 20 mins, please add a timestamp so we know what you're referring to. Thanks, appreciated.

I remember a story like this.

a reply to: lindalinda

You said this was around the time of the Phoenix lights but you do not offer any specific information about where this was supposed to have occurred. Try to give more information and I will try to help.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

I'd say the Phoenix lights occurred in Phoenix.

originally posted by: mikeone718
a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

It was around the time of Phoenix Lights.

Does not specify that this happened in Phoenix.

edit on 28-6-2015 by soulpowertothendegree because: (no reason given)

a reply to: mikeone718

Wow, I'm wondering if this is it, and my brain confused so many details after all these years, or if there is possibly another situation that is very similar.

If it is what I remember, I got almost all the details wrong, but the basic story is what I remember. I'd love to see the footage examined, if her original videotape still exists.

Do you know the date of this show? How did you find it? Thanks for posting!

ETA: Google tells me this is from Halloween 1989, so the show would have run 89-90. I thought it was 90s, because I moved in 91 and I thought I saw it in the new city, but apparently I misremembered a lot about this!

Thanks for sharing the vid! And that in essence means appreciating lindalinda for trying to find it, thanks! I can give you an armchair analysis, as a long term video editor. It's not a positive one though so stop reading if you want the alien in window HBO story to be aliens... Perhaps someone else can balance this post with a positive analysis?

Don't take my word for it, this is just my interpretation. But the details stack up and video trickery, even if it's unintentional, won't always retain its power to fool. I still find it interesting, but also feel it's a laughable misinterpretation by today's standards. Ahh, 90's ufology. Reports like this are slowly but surely becoming museum worthy.

The lights in the sky aside and just the window alien:



Accurately represents where the video is shot from. Take note of the railing beside her. Presumably you've got a door there, then the square window where the "alien" appears and then a long slim window that's just out of this frame.



A made up shot, this is not the position she was in, I guess for artistic quality they moved her forward. At 1:28 in the video you can see the lowest part of the railing is elbow height on her and she looks quite small generally, the upper part perhaps at or just above her head height. Even with the camera on her shoulder, its likely the railing is still going to be higher up than she is and in shot.



The actual footage, as enhanced in the report. Notice you can see the door, the square window and the slim window. Because the door is visible, she clearly isn't filming from that second position above, and IMO is considerably closer to the position in the first picture.

In fact, if she was doing an overarm shot as shown in the second picture, the footage would not appear to be looking so sharply up the wall. That's not a 2 storey house? It looks more like 1 and a third story. The footage shot shows not only that she is stood back from where the door is, but in my opinion also holding the camera underarm, can't quite explain it - pretty much as she is in the first image above. Or that hunched over thing you did with massive VHS-C cameras when viewfinders existed and you could tilt them upwards.

And so when she zooms out and takes a couple of steps forward, guess what moves across that bit of darkened foreground?



A bloody great big railing that shes stood next to and just below.

?

It gets cleverly masked by the slim window, though what you see in the lower third of the slim window is possibly the railing itself. It's tiny tiny detail but there's a slight blob in that window that also moves in motion with everything else. The video never quite reveals what the railing looks like or even the building in the daytime. Seems like misinterpretation (bless them though) manipulated into evening entertainment. Can see that now. But back then even I was probably convinced by it. We've evolved, blurs in windows don't pass as even entertainment worth nowadays (aww) perhaps because now we have HD 1080 and mistakes like this can't be packaged as they are in this video anymore.

Look back at the first image and you've also got a picket fence on the right and what looks like an oval shaped bush just bottom left of the square "alien" window. If it's not the railing, or something attached to the railing, I reckon it could be a foreground branch of a not so pruned bush. Neither of those, and perhaps a grainy 8mm blob shadow of no discernible shape whatsoever might be an alien in someones bathroom window, as I say, 90's ufology was a bit of a joke, right? But it's nice to look back. And don't take my word for it, if you want that to be aliens let it be - I personally think it has a more mundane explanation that tricked everyone cos it was 1989 grainy 8mm stuff but always appreciate a case not known before thanks!

Darkness + Obscured Foreground object crossing window + Co-incidental Chinese "Sky" Lantern encounter = 1989 HBO special report about aliens. That was a real, existing formula back then, it even worked through the 90's and into the 00's, but slowly died as we reached the 10's, didn't it? But in a way, that's progress. Because before the 80's/90's it was "stick something on a window and move around then release it without any sound to simulate a flying object" was the norm.

That said anyone else with an eye for 8MM and VHS-C feel free to back me up on foreground objects...? haha

a reply to: lindalinda

I remember seeing this in the 90s...a current affrair aired it I believe.

originally posted by: mikeone718
I remember a story like this.

Gina Jones is hot with her 1980's hair and southern accent.

The kid and his mom at the end if the video look like aliens. Or serial killers.

a reply to: markymint

We've evolved, blurs in windows don't pass as even entertainment worth nowadays

Funny I recall that it was fleeting and blurry but also more definitive as a being of whatever sort. It really made an impression on me then — albeit one that got confused over the years. I suppose this being video of a video could cause it to be degraded, too. But as much as I appreciate your analysis, it doesn't look to me like a railing. I wonder if Mufon still has a good copy ... ?

Also it's funny how the go-to comparison was Close Encounters, not X-Files like today.